


(If this is a Rom-Com) Kill the Director

by TheShinySword



Series: Holiday (MocaChisa Rarepair Week Summer 2020) [5]
Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Afterglow Cuddle Pile, Bandori Rarepair Week, Cuddling, F/F, Movie Night, Ran Mitake: Eternally Single and FINE WITH IT THANKS, Ran has a dirty mouth, Rated T for Teen SWEARING
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:35:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24559276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheShinySword/pseuds/TheShinySword
Summary: Ran's been dreading movie night ever since a third couple joined Afterglow, but Chisato and Moca aren't acting like she expected and that just makes things so much worse.
Relationships: Aoba Moca & Mitake Ran, Aoba Moca/Shirasagi Chisato, Hazawa Tsugumi/Hikawa Sayo, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Mitake Ran & Shirasagi Chisato, Udagawa Tomoe/Uehara Himari
Series: Holiday (MocaChisa Rarepair Week Summer 2020) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769263
Comments: 16
Kudos: 90





	(If this is a Rom-Com) Kill the Director

**Author's Note:**

> Day 5 - Lounge (I used it as a verb instead of a noun oops)
> 
> Title pulled right from the song Kill the Director by the Wombats!

When Moca revealed that the running gag she’d been playing up for two months wasn’t a gag at all and she really DID have a “hot actress girlfriend who went to another school” Ran knew at once Afterglow needed to have a family meeting. Yes, Afterglow spent everyday together but some things required a formal meeting to discuss. If Ran was going to be the perpetually single seventh wheel of the group then she had a right to set the terms.

The discussion was a bloodbath. Ran put forth a strict set of proposals and one by one they were rejected in full by her friends. Himari vehemently refused to consider the no PDA policy. Tsugumi said the ‘girlfriends only on alternating Tuesdays’ rule wouldn’t jell with Roselia’s schedule. At least, Tomoe did like the ‘no food sharing’ idea but it was only because she was tired of Himari ordering nothing at the diner and stealing all of her fries and not because she was committed to Ran’s cause.

Somehow, Ran ended the meeting with less than she had started with. Moca only offered one suggestion but it was so despicable Ran wished Moca would just slammed her guitar over Ran’s head and killed her quickly. The proposal? Unlimited cuddling on movie nights.

Their monthly movie nights were already a den of physical affectionate wretchedness but to have it encoded into pretend law was entirely too much for Ran. So, of course, the motion was enthusiastically passed despite her opposition—though Ran’s ‘If I see a tongue I get to rip it out’ amendment was accepted at the last minute.

Ran’s attempt to curb the romantic affection in her group was completely thwarted. She’d been dreading movie night ever since.

Tomoe and Himari were teen hormones personified—oozing love and affection with such obnoxious enthusiasm that Ran was constantly thrust into second, third and fourth hand embarrassment around them. Tsugumi and Sayo seemed like an innocent and sweet couple to outsiders but ever since she caught them necking in the hallway with Tsugumi’s hand up Sayo’s blouse, Ran hadn’t been able to look Sayo in the eyes. Neither couple could be trusted to keep things G rated, or PG… or PG-13. Honestly, Ran had doubts about the R rating too.

And now Moca was dating, to quote, “the most babelicious babe to ever exist”. Her last ally in the singledom had abandoned her to canoodle with a movie star. There was no way Moca wouldn’t make things hellish for Ran. Chisato hadn’t actually been formally introduced to Afterglow but Moca couldn’t resist embarrassing Ran at every turn. All of Ran’s friends had one thing on their minds and it was disgusting. … Maybe not ‘disgusting’, Ran supported her friends no matter what and punk rock—fight the man, kiss a girl and all that jazz—But, just a thought, maybe THEY COULD WAIT until Ran WASN’T THERE?!

Movie night came too quickly. On the bright side, Ran was hosting. Her father was away at an Ikebana convention and the house was hers for the night. Some other teen might have tried to throw a party but Ran knew full well Afterglow’s current plans were much more dangerous than a teenage riot. And at least it was Tsugumi’s turn to pick the movie. Himari always chose something horribly sappy and romantic and way too mood setting. If Ran had it her way she’d pick out a dry documentary about stamp collecting. No, that would never work. Moca would make licking jokes the whole time. Nothing was sacred amongst her friends.

DingaDong!

Sayo and Tsugumi arrived first with a homemade cake and a dollop of frosting on Sayo’s cheek they’d both managed to miss. Tsugumi disappeared into Ran’s kitchen to start making the popcorn, something no one ever asked her to do but she always did anyway, leaving Sayo and Ran to make small talk. They didn’t. Ran appreciated that Sayo was as opposed to inane questions as she was, even if it did mean they sat in silence on opposite ends of the couch more often than not.

DingaDong!

Himari and Tomoe came next with plastic bags overflowing with junk food and a bundle of carrots from Himari’s mom. Her mom always sent her over with some healthy food they were never going to eat but at least carrots were more reasonable than the raw head of broccoli she’d sent last time. The couple was already wrapped around each other at the front door, Tomoe covering Himari like a goofy, grinning cape. They pried themselves apart at Ran’s glower and Himari joined Tsugumi in the kitchen while Tomoe bounded for Sayo and the couch. Ran was a little grateful for the noise.

DingaDong!

Ran braced herself when the doorbell rang for the third time. She paused at the door, breathed deeply in a futile attempt to calm herself, and opened it.

“Yo~.” Moca was standing on her doorstep with her two usual giant Yamabuki bakery bags—one for herself and one to share—totally alone. She shivered in the early autumn air.

Ran craned her neck around Moca with suspicious narrowed eyes. “Where’s your girlfriend?”

“We like to arrive separately, like all the cool celebrity couples do.” Moca winked and pushed forward towards and against Ran until Ran had no choice but to let her in or hug her (Ran did both).

Moca made herself comfortable on the couch with her legs over Tomoe’s lap and her personal bun bag at her side. Tomoe was always all grins and platonic pats with just a little too much unassuming force behind them when her friends were in reach. Ran was a frequent victim, sometimes willingly. She wasn’t against _all_ affection.

“Sayochi~ you look so lonely over there,” Moca crooned. The couch was a long sectional with a ninety degree bend—perfect for a group of five friends, a little cramped for three couples and a Ran.

Together, she and Tomoe teased Sayo about how formal she looked sitting on the couch and coaxed Sayo into joining them on the cuddlier side.

“I am fine,” Sayo sat so rigidly she could have been replaced with a wax statue and a voice box and no one would have noticed. “Thank you for your concern.”

“You’re so faaar away,” Moca pawed at the two meters of couch between them. “Moca-chan’s hearing’s no good.”

“I suppose if it’s for your hearing I can come closer.” Sayo stood up with the same regal formality she made every motion that didn’t involve Tsugumi. Ran wasn’t sure if Sayo believed Moca or just found Moca’s performance entertaining but she took a second seat next to Moca either way.

Was Moca a good influence or a terrible influence on Sayo? Ran didn’t have time to decide before the doorbell rang again.

DingaDong!

“Thank you for having me over,” Chisato bowed as soon as Ran opened the door.

Ran wasn’t sure what she’d expected, a full length ball gown maybe, but she was struck by just how ordinary Chisato looked standing there in the sort of cute but casual dress Tsugumi or Himari might wear, just with a little more money put into it. She was pretty—Ran knew that, like the rest of her friends, she was a teenage lesbian with eyes—but up close she was humanly pretty. When they’d written that song for Pastel Palettes, Ran had never actually gotten this close to her.

“For you.” Chisato rose and held out a fancy looking bottle to Ran. It looked like one of those champagne bottles she’d seen in movies but the label read “sparkling juice” in bold, insistent letters. Ran recoiled with defensiveness. What did Chisato think this was? A cocktail party? Did she think she was showing off with that thoughtful, probably expensive present? It occurred to Ran that maybe it was ridiculous to complain—even internally—about a gift for being _too nice_ and she forced her jaw to unclench.

“Thanks,” Ran muttered before stepping aside and letting Chisato in with the bottle still in her hands.

“Chisato!” Moca sprung off the couch with her brightest grin—the kind she wore on half-priced bread days and when she found Ran on the rooftop alone.

Ran braced herself for the wave of physical affection about to flood her house. Who was going to cling to who? Stupid question, Moca was a clinger. She was practically a half octopus, even with a girlfriend she still spent most of the time locked around one of Ran’s limbs.

Moca bounced to Chisato and—stopped with a respectable distance between them. Chisato smiled gracefully at her supposed girlfriend. “Moca.”

“Let’s get that in the fridge, you can say hi to Tsugu and Hii-chan,” Moca motioned to the bottle with her thumb and the ‘couple’ left for the kitchen, walking side by side but unconnected.

Ran was slightly unnerved. But maybe she was just too used to seeing the others hold hands like they were afraid of getting lost. The annoying schmaltz would come later.

Soon all four of them emerged from the kitchen with a punch bowl of popcorn and Tomoe and Sayo zoomed to their girlfriends like kissing magnets. There was the uncontrolled affection Ran had come to expect.

Afterglow quickly settled into their preferred movie viewing positions. Sayo and Tsugumi on one end of Ran’s long sectional, Tomoe and Himari settled on the floor, Ran set a comfortable distance away from them and now, Moca and Chisato on the opposite end of the couch.

They began the movie. Tsugumi had picked out some American film about high school girls who were especially mean. Ran’s body tensed up throughout the opening credits. All around her the couples began to fall into each other. Himari cuddled up against Tomoe, half in her lap, nuzzling at her neck in a way that definitely was not conducive to paying attention. Sayo slumped down in her seat just enough that she could rest against Tsugumi’s shoulder while Tsugumi’s hand tangled in her hair. And Moca—oh how Ran dreaded peeking at Moca, probably straddling Chiasto already—Moca was—

Sitting in the middle of the couch with about half a meter separating her and Chisato.

Huh.

Ran was sitting closer to Moca than Chisato was. If Ran just nudged her head to the left she’d hit Moca’s shin. Their hands weren’t even near each other, Chisato’s hands were folded in her lap. She sat so rigid and upright you’d think she was going to be graded on it. She was putting Sayo to shame. And worst of all, it wasn’t making Ran feel any better about things! If anything it just fried her nerves more than if they were tongue deep in each other’s throats. They were like coiled springs waiting to burst. At least Moca was. She kept glancing back from the TV to her girlfriend. Chisato remained locked on the TV. Ran tried hard to enjoy the movie and not worry about the inevitable explosion.

“On Wednesdays we wear pink,” Himari and Tsugumi recited in unison with the movie about twenty minutes in.

“Have you seen this movie babe?” Tomoe asked with her chin tapping the top of Himari’s head.

“It’s a meme Tomoe!” Himari giggled, “like half the lines in this movie are memes.”

“We know Hii-chan~ you won’t stop saying them out loud,” Moca teased.

Himari whined, “That’s the point of movie night! We’re supposed to talk and stuff!”

“Uehara-san, I enjoy your commentary,” Sayo smiled warmly from under Tsugumi’s arm. When she was snuggled up so comfortably under Tsugumi’s arm it was hard to believe they’d all once been scared of her. It was like if the horrifying wolf in the woods turned out to be nothing but a big lap dog.

“Thank you Sayo! I provide insightful insights.” Himari stuck her tongue out at Moca before shoving a handful of popcorn into her mouth. “Right babe?”

Tomoe shifted so Himari could fit entirely on her lap. “Right,” she agreed just before Himari began to feed Tomoe popcorn one kernel at a time.

Ran dramatically rolled her eyes and turned her attention away from the lovebirds and the movie and onto Moca’s face above her.

Moca watched Chisato with the smallest smile Ran had ever seen on Moca’s face. With tiny, calculated movements Moca inched her hand towards where Chisato’s laid in the empty space between them. It was like watching a twelve year old try to make a move, Ran was almost embarrassed. But just as her pinky brushed the side of Chisato’s hand, the actress pulled away and folded her hands back in her lap. Moca’s smile faded and Ran’s heart dropped.

What did they really know about Chisato anyway? She was an actress and an idol and in the same year as Sayo. Tsugumi’s girlfriend had only had nice things to say when Ran, Himari and Tomoe cornered her in CiRCLE and interrogated her on the subject but even then, Sayo admitted Chisato was reserved. And Sayo Hikawa calling someone reserved was like Moca calling someone gluttonous—it was either hypocritical or dangerously true.

What did Chisato want from Moca? They barely acted like a couple. Ran could tell Moca was crazy about her from the way she talked and smiled but Chisato seemed totally distant. Was it some kind of scam? What kind of con could someone pull over on Moca Aoba? Maybe Chisato just really liked free bread? Ran had no answers, all she knew was that it hurt like it was happening to her when she saw Moca rejected like that.

Ran she had two options: let Moca continue to try and fail to get some sort of physical affection from her _girlfriend_ or instigate a situation to force them to canoodle.

Moca owed her big time.

Afterglow had many set protocols, little things they did so many times they could give them names and call them out like moves in a sentai show. There was the Tsugu confidence boost, the crash Himari’s crash diet, and, best of all, the Afterglow cuddle pile. The instigation was simple because only one person ever kept them from constantly cuddling.

Ran scooted slightly to the right and gulped. Once they started, the Afterglow cuddle pile could never be stopped. Slowly and deliberately, Ran placed her head against Himari’s with a tiny, affectionate nudge. Every pair of eyes in the room, save one, turned to Ran that instant. When Ran asked for any sort of physical affection, she got it in spades.

With a giggle, Himari slid off Tomoe’s lap and onto Ran’s. Her arms latched around Ran’s shoulders in a bit more of a friendly hug than the one she clung to Tomoe with but it was no less tight. Himari was heavy on Ran’s lap but she’d be lying if she didn’t admit it was nice to have Himari’s soft and squishy middle in her arms. With a toothy grin, Tomoe wrapped an arm around Ran and squeezed both of them close to her side. Tomoe had the grip strength of an alligator’s jaws and she was about as rough too but it was… a little nice to be the center of their attention.

Sayo and Tsugumi joined in immediately, sliding off the couch and letting Tomoe pull Sayo in against her other side. Sayo blushed from Tomoe’s eager manhandling but let her decide where Sayo would land. To Himari and Tsugumi’s open delight, Tomoe tucked Sayo under her chin. Tsugumi attached herself to Sayo’s free side with her arm around Sayo’s waist and her head snuggled into Sayo’s chest. The five of them formed a sloping mountain with Tomoe as the peak.

But Ran’s attention was still on Moca. Their eyes met and Moca preened with a languid smile. “Does Ran miss Moca-chan’s soft arms around her? I’m the crowning jewel of the cuddle pile, I know, I know.” Moca started to move down but paused, eyes rolling back to Chisato who watched with a confused, though not antagonistic, expression. “Ah…”

Chisato’s eyebrows raised. “Don’t let me keep you from the ‘cuddle pile’.”

Moca hesitated. “You know, you could, if you wanted to—”

“Enjoy, Moca,” her girlfriend said with great finality.

Moca didn’t let her smile fall as she twisted around to lay on the couch, arms dangling off the end and over Ran and Himari’s shoulders together. The Afterglow cuddle pile was complete.

But it was one thing to cuddle her four closest friends (and Sayo) and it was another to cuddle her four closest friends (and Sayo) while a seventh person watched. Ran couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being severely judged as Moca’s breath tickled the part in her hair.

“Is this what American High Schools are really like?” Tomoe wondered into Sayo’s hair after a few minutes had passed.

“Yep, this is a veeeery serious documentary Tomo-chin.” Moca reached around Ran for some popcorn.

“Oh for real?”

Sayo shook her head, still under Tomoe’s. “It is not, Tomoe-san.”

“Tomoe-san!” Moca cheered. “Amazing, incredible, congratulations on your marriage~!”

“What are you talking about Aoba-san?”

“Tsugu’s still ‘Hazawa-san’ after four months, so Tomo-chin’s gotta have a reaaaal special place in your heart.”

Sayo’s face flushed. There really was a world of difference between the Sayo they expected when Tsugumi told them they were going out and the Sayo they all got. Never in a million years would Ran have expected Sayo spent so much time looking like a tomato. “It would get confusing. Udagawa-san is Tomoe-san’s little sister, after all.”

“Sorry Tsugu, looks like you’ll have to wait until Sayochi is _also_ Hazawa-san.”

“I believe that would not be an issue, I wouldn’t be referring to myself often.”

Sayo and Tsugumi’s faces turned bright red with the realization of the implication at the exact same time. Sayo extracted herself from Tomoe so she could hide her face in her hands while Tsugumi comforted her through her own embarrassment.

“Moca, don’t tease her so much,” Chisato’s smooth voice cut in to chide affectionately.

“Oh ho~ is Chisato a little jealous?”

Ran relaxed as the easy back and forth kicked up over her head. Then, there was a long pause.

“No,” Chisato said finally. With a shuffling noise she turned away.

If Ran wasn’t mistaken (and she decided she wasn’t), Chisato had just cut their banter off. Something like jealousy flared up in Ran’s heart, cutting Moca’s banter off was HER job. Chisato was supposed to playfully lob back and forth with Moca, Ran was the one who got to shut Moca down! Ran had had it.

“I’m getting more popcorn,” Ran grumbled, carefully pushing Himari off her lap and back onto Tomoe.

“But we still have some?” Tomoe pointed to the remnants in the bowl.

Ran glared at the bowl with a layer of popcorn still hanging in the bottom. She stuffed both hands into it and shoved fistful after fistful of popcorn in her mouth until the bowl. “We’re out. Chisato-san, come help me make more.”

If Chisato was surprised she didn’t show it. “Of course, I’d be happy to.”

They silently made their way to the kitchen, leaving confused faces behind them. The kitchen was far enough away to grant them a little privacy. Ran snagged the pot Tsugumi had used earlier from where it sat drying (of course Tsugumi had washed it, as usual she was the light of Ran’s life) and set it back on the stove. With a grimace she examined the bottle of canola oil set on the counter. “How much of this should I pour in?”

“If you asked me here for my culinary expertise you’re going to be surely disappointed, Ran Mitake.”

“I’m not like Moca, you can’t just call me by my full name and expect me to fall over myself for you.” Despite that, Ran had to admit there was something intoxicating about hearing her name fall out of Chisato’s mouth in that rich and frankly, sensual voice.

“Apologies. But I really don’t know, and you really didn’t ask me here to help,” Chisato stepped up to the stove, peering in the pot alongside Ran. “I would assume enough to cover the bottom.”

“Yeah probably,” Ran muttered. She unscrewed the cap and let the oil pour out with two gulping glugs. It looked right… enough. Ran clicked on the stove and let the oil heat, turning away with her back to the faux marble counter. Her kitchen was built like a wide hallway with the stove at the end. She and Chisato could comfortably face each other, each leaning on their own side of the counters.

“Tell me, what is it you want to interrogate me about?” Chisato raised a single perfectly plucked eyebrow.

“Why won’t you touch Moca?” Ran cringed internally at her own bluntness but Ran was never good at beating around the bush.

The eyebrow fell. “Oh.” Finally, Ran could read the surprise on Chisato’s face. She tucked away that knowledge for later.

“Moca is the clingiest person I know. She’s like a koala or one of those, I dunno stick, sticky hands that get all the gross hair on them after a couple minutes. You can’t scrape her off you,” Ran rustled her hair in frustration, her red strip briefly fanning out with the rest of her hair, “How am I supposed to believe she’s happy with someone who won’t even hold her hand while watching a movie?”

Chisato tried to recover from her surprise. “You’re very observant, aren’t you?”

“I just know Moca.” Ran shook her head. “And I don’t know you.”

The actress squeezed the countertop with her hands like she was thinking about lifting it up. “Moca and I cannot be a normal couple.”

Ran grit her teeth and grabbed the bag of popcorn kernels, dumping them into the pot until they covered the entire bottom and then some. “Of course you fucking can’t be, you’re dating _Moca_.”

That surprised look again. “E-excuse me?”

She wheeled around and a rant poured from her mouth. “Moca is the weirdest person I know! Did you know she weighs like 40 kilos? She eats that much in bread every month? Where does it go? Why can’t she gain weight?! How does she always know what I’m thinking? Also, she can play pretty much any song after hearing it once but she still does solo practice all the time and we have to all pretend we don’t know or she’ll get embarrassed!”

“I-I…” Chisato stumbled over Ran’s words like they’d been scattered on the floor. “She always comes up with the most elaborate plans for the smallest things. One time she waited in line for forty minutes to shake my hand just so we could hold hands in public and then she did it again.”

Ran laughed at the image that brought up in her head, “Of course she did, that’s Moca, you know?”

“It is, isn’t it?” Chisato paused before continuing. “We’re not exactly able to spend time around others as a couple. I… I worry if I become too comfortable with holding hands or resting on her shoulder or any one of the tiny things I want to do, I’ll forget myself at the wrong moment and it’ll cut this fantasy short.”

Ran leaned her head back, staring up at the cracks in the plaster ceiling, waiting for Chisato to continue as the popcorn began to fill the silence between them.

“I don’t expect to be able to spend forever with Moca. But I… I would like it to last a little longer.”

“That’s super stupid.”

The popcorn popping grew louder. Chisato’s mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”

Ran rolled her eyes. The punk rock leader of Afterglow part of her took charge as she stood up straight, hands on her hips. “It’s like what the hell? You’re not that much older than me! What are you doing worrying so much about the future? Who asked you for forever? Deal with right now! I don’t care if you’re a famous actress or an idol. Inside here you’re just some girl dating my best friend.”

“But—” Pop! Pop! Pop! “—you don’t know me.”

“Moca chose you, that’s all I need to know. Afterglow is a buy one get four free deal.” Ran was pretty sure she looked cool as hell in that moment. The look was immediately ruined by an oily hot kernel of popcorn bounced out of the pop and right onto Ran’s face. “GAH! That’s hot!”

“Oh no, were we supposed to put a lid on it?” Chisato whirled around the kitchen, looking for the missing lid.

“Shit!” Pop! “Shit!” Pop!” “Shit! Shit! Shit!” Pop! Pop! Pop!

The popcorn burst out, more and more by the second. Quickly the popcorn began to flow over the side in a continuous wave of popcorn, flooding the floor. Ran jumped back before her feet were buried under tiny white puffs.

“I found it!” Chisato cried out, spinning around just in time to catch Ran covered in popcorn and the pot’s onslaught finally coming to an end. “Oh my, well I suppose everyone can just eat off of you.”

“I’m going to take my own advice and deal with this later.” Ran brushed the popcorn out of her hair and clicked off the stove with a sigh. “Just like you will, right?”

Chisato set down the lid uselessly on the pot. “I…”

“There’s no reason to say goodbye before you have to, right? We formed a band so we could stay together. If you want to be with Moca then we can…”

“Form a band?”

“Urgh.” Ran groaned. “The connection made sense in my head…”

Chisato chuckled and plucked a kernel off of Ran’s shoulder. “Thank you for your help Ran.” With a wink she turned around and left the kitchen.

Okay, maybe she got the appeal of Chisato Shirasagi a little.

Ran reentered the living room just behind Chisato to the sound of Moca’s voice. “Hii-chan is hot, dumb one through and through.”

“Moca!” Himari gasped, still planted in Tomoe’s lap. “You think I’m hot?”

“And dumb babe,” Tomoe chuckled, kissing her girlfriend’s forehead.

“But hot!”

Tomoe was the first one to notice Ran and Chisato’s reentry, “Yo! Where’s the popcorn?”

“There was an incident,” Chisato offered mysteriously. “What’s going on here?

“We’re figuring out which characters we’re most like,” Tsugumi answered.

“Hazawa-san is the lead, although I do not believe she would ever become a ‘mean girl’.” Sayo and Tsugumi had retreated back onto the couch where they lounged contentedly in each other’s arms.

Tsugumi giggled. “Sayo-san! It’s just a movie.”

“Even in the hypothetical, I cannot believe it.”

Ran knew she didn’t want to know the answer but she asked anyway. “Which one am I?”

Tomoe winked. “The artsy fartsy one with a big lesbian crush on the main character.”

“Of course I am.”

“Moca-chan is too gay to function!” Moca shot finger guns at her girlfriend and her best friend. She couldn’t hide how happy she was to see the two of them next to each other.

“Of course you are,” Chisato added before Ran could. They shared a smile between them. Chisato made her way back to Moca, taking a seat beside her. Very carefully, she raised her hand and buried it deep in Moca’s hair, rubbing little circles with her thumb behind Moca’s ear. “I’d be the hottest and meanest of the girls.”

“Playing to type I see,” Moca grinned.

Chisato purred with a stroke to Moca’s cheek. “Flattery will get you everywhere, Moca Aoba.”

Ran sighed. She may have helped Moca out, but she’d dug her own grave.

Whatever. Ran rolled her eyes and forced her way between Tomoe and Himari. They quickly molded back around her, like an interrupted slime enveloping Ran in their love. If she was stuck in seventh wheel hell, she might as well enjoy the fringe benefits.

* * *

“You sure you can get home on your own?” Moca leaned her forearm against the frame of Ran’s front door, as Chisato kicked the tip of her shoes against the porch.

She looked up with that clever smile, “Somehow I did manage for seventeen years without you.”

“Heh, just a little protective I guess. Moca-chan’s gotta stay behind so poor Ran doesn’t cry herself to sleep alone in this big house.” The other couples had already left after the movie ended, it’d become a recent tradition for Moca to stay the night with Ran after movie night and her relationship wasn’t going to change that.

“Well well, my Moca is quite the considerate friend.”

Something in Moca’s chest purred at the phrase ‘My Moca’. She had it so bad. “Does your Moca get a goodbye treat?” Moca knew the answer but the fun was in the asking.

“Not on the front porch.” It was the answer Moca expected but she knew it wasn’t as serious as it had once seemed. It was fun to play by Chisato’s rules.

“We can go back inside real quick.”

Chisato laughed fondly. “Goodnight Moca.”

“Goodnight Chisato.” Her fingernails dug a little into her palm. “Text me when you get home?”

“Only a little protective?” Chisato’s eyes twinkled.

“So I can imagine you in bed?” Moca offered as a weak excuse, though she did frequently and would continue to.

Her girlfriend started to leave with a shake of her head and a little smile but she paused on the bottom step and turned back. “I love you.”

And before Moca could do anything but stammer and blush, Chisato disappeared into the night.

Moca rejoined Ran in the living room, not even caring about the dumb, goofy smile on her face. Ran rolled her eyes but didn’t hide her own happy smirk. She just moved over on the couch, knowing full well that Moca was going to attach herself to Ran’s side and drag her into the best friend spoon they’d been falling into since they were eight. Which she did immediately.

Ran absently flipped around channels on the tv while Moca doodled invisible smiley faces on her arms. She settled on some cooking show with a pleasant narrator they could chill out to. Moca couldn’t shake the giddy feeling in her chest, even if the feeling was going to inevitably crash around her, in this moment everything was wonderful. So of course she’d have to playfully pick at it. “Guess this is our new same as always.”

Ran groaned loud and dramatically. “Moca.”

Moca cackled. “Did you have a good talk with Chisato~?”

“Mmm,” Ran grunted, snuggling against Moca’s chest. “Though she’s dating you so clearly there’s something wrong with her.”

“Oof! Shot in the heart, someone call a medic, Moca-chan has been burned.”

“How’d I shoot you and burn you?”

“Ran is just that powerful.”

Ran grumbled something in response to Moca’s arms. Moca leaned close to Ran’s mouth, wiggling her ear. “Repeat that? You know Moca-chan is soooo hard of hearing.”

“I said your relationship is like Afterglow! Our same as always is always changing, but we’re still us. So, just keep that in mind okay. It’s true for you two too. The thing that keeps us together…”

Moca tried so so so hard not to laugh as she realized where Ran was going. “Are you gonna say love?”

“What?! N-no! Shut up.” Ran tried to squirm out of Moca’s hold.

“Ran~ Please~” Moca cooed, petting Ran’s head like she was an irate cat. “Please tell me love keeps Afterglow together!”

“No. I never will and you can’t make me!”

“Say it~ Everybody say looove, Ran!”

“I can’t believe I was just thinking about how mature you looked! You’re still a kid! Does Chisato know she’s dating a five year old?!”

Moca knew Ran worried sometimes about her friends leaving her behind but she never had to worry. Moca could see clearly that, as always, she was charging ahead into real maturity before the rest of them. But they’d try to keep up nonetheless.

“Don’t worry Ran! Moca will always wait for you to catch up! We can get you a super hot girlfriend too!”

“MOCA!”


End file.
